Rosneft to join KPG gas pipe project

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Russian state-run oil giant Rosneft said September 18 it has negotiated “an opportunity” to participate in a gas infrastructure project with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq and that it expects to finalise a separate agreement under this project by year-end.

The gas pipeline will not only supply natural gas to the power plants and domestic factories throughout the region but also enable exports to Turkey and Europe in the coming years, said Rosneft September 18.

Both parties “have negotiated Rosneft’s opportunity to participate in the project on funding of the construction project of Kurdistan Region’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure,” said Rosneft. Investment in the project would be on under a build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) arrangement, to be recovered through tariff charges and an agreed rate of return basis, and that the pipeline capacity is expected to be up to 30bn m3/yr for export, in addition to handling gas supply to key domestic users.

Rosneft said it and the KRG are negotiating implementation of the project for construction of gas pipeline system on a “fast track basis” with commissioning of the pipeline and first domestic supplies planned for 2019, followed by first exports in 2020.

“Successful implementation of the project under discussion will enable Rosneft to play a leading role in the building and expanding the Kurdistan Region’s gas transport infrastructure and create synergy with existing projects for development of the oil and gas fields of the five blocks awarded to the company in the region,” the Russian firm said.

Rosneft also said September 18 it has completed due diligence on infrastructure of the export oil pipeline in Iraqi Kurdistan and will shortly finalise the legally binding documents on that oil pipe project under the Investment Agreement signed in June 2017 in St. Petersburg. Earlier this month, a new Chinese investor was announced as the latest non-Russian shareholder in Rosneft.